The SXSW Film Festival coming up March 9-17 has a solid Memphis presence.

One is Pilgrim Song making its world premiere. Memphis-based Paper Moon Films (Nick Case and Ryan Watt) is the production company. Past Paper Moon projects Open Five and The Romance of Loneliness are Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission clients.

Case and Watt met director Martha Stephens at the 2010 Indie Memphis Film Festival where her film Passenger Pigeons screened in competition. "Indie Memphis is such a wonderful event to meet other talented filmmakers from all over the country. Erik Jambor has been instrumental in helping facilitate creative collaborations not only during the festival, but year-round," said Case.

John Beifuss, in his CA blog The Bloodshot Eye, writes about several films with local connections going to the Austin fest:

"One of eight films -- out of a staggering 1,112 submissions -- in the prestigious 'Narrative Feature Competition' is writer-director Martha Stephens' Pilgrim Song, shot in Kentucky and West Virginia and produced by Memphis' Paper Moon Films company, headed by Nick Case and Ryan Watt. The producers met Stephens at the 2010 Indie Memphis Film Festival, where the director's debut feature, a Kentucky tale titled Passenger Pigeons, was screened. Passenger Pigeons starred Memphis' Kentucker Audley, and Paper Moon produced Audley's lauded Open Five, another 2010 work. Pilgrim Song casts former Memphian Timothy Morton (a star of Audley's debut feature, Team Picture)."